Cash-back tax deal for Falcao

Monaco’s star Colombian strike Radamel Falcao is ready to admit to tax fraud allegations in Spain in return for a cash settlement, according to Spanish press reports.

Falcao played for Atletico Madrid between 2011 and 2013, when the tax offences were alleged to have taken place. He had already paid €7.2 million into court two months ago, and if the eventual fine is the reported €6 million, he will receive a refund of the balance. The deal will avoid the need for a trial.

Other footballers to face tax enquiries in Spain in recent months are Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, PSG’s Neymar and Ronaldo. Falcao’s tax troubles centred on the sale of image rights, as did Neymar’s.

The Spanish prosecutor’s office has not confirmed the Falcao report.

Especially since the departure of Kylian Mbappe for PSG, AS Monaco is especially dependent on Falcao for its goals. In his latest outing, at home on Saturday, the striker scored a brace of goals against Strasbourg, with the eventual scoreline 3-0.

[caption id="attachment_2116" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Photo: Facebook AS Monaco[/caption]
AS Monaco’s Radamel Falcao scored his first Ligue 1 goal in more than two years last weekend, but Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim is wary over his fitness.
Jardim has urged patience, stating he’s unsure whether the Colombian striker is ready to complete a 90-minute game, according to goal.com.
Falcao scored his first goal in France’s top flight since August 2014 in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Rennes, following two unsuccessful seasons on loan with Manchester United and Chelsea.
Nevertheless, Jardim is keen to play down expectations surrounding the 30-year-old, whose struggles can be traced back to a cruciate knee ligament injury that forced him to miss the 2014 World Cup.
“It’s normal that he is not at 100 percent because he did not play for a month,” Jardim told a news conference in Monaco ahead of Wednesday’s derby against second-place Nice. “He needs to play more and more to reach his level. I don’t know if he’ll be able to play 90 minutes. We’ll see what happens, and we’ll have to substitute him if needed.”
The Portuguese coach added, “I think that playing a derby is very good, it’s a very important game for our fans and for us.
I think this year it’ll be a bigger game because it’s first against second and I think it’s been many years since we’ve had this derby with the two teams at the top of the league. Because of all this, we have all the reasons to play a good game,” he said.
Monaco play Nice Wednesday at 7 pm at Allianz Riviera in Nice.

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Although Monaco enjoyed 57-percent possession in the fast-moving UEFA Champions League game on Tuesday night, it was Porto’s Aboubakar who was the star of the match, opening the scoring for the visitors in the 31st minute and coming back for a second in the 69th. He was replaced by Jesus Corona in the 71st.
Insult was added to injury when Layun scored for Porto in the 90th minute, taking the score to 3-0 for the visitors.
Playing at home, Monaco had gone into the UEFA Champions League group stage game as clear favourites, facing a Porto team that had lost 3-1 at home to Besiktas in its previous Champions League outing on September 13, but Monaco’s players were unable to find a rhythm and were simply outclassed by the visitors.
Monaco had suffered a heavy defeat to Nice in a French league game, losing 4-1 just a few weeks ago, but have so far averaged three goals per game in Ligue 1, and coach Jardim had hoped the bad times were over.
Monaco’s captain, Radamel Falcao, is the top goalscorer in any major European league with 11 goals from seven games. Interestingly, Falcao played for Porto in the Europa League final in 2011, scoring the only goal in the final.
Falcao’s failure to find the back of the visitors’ net on Tuesday must give Monaco serious pause for thought.